Draven

Bird Question:

Do birds like regular seeds or seeds with condiments (ketchup) better?


Materials:

  • Bird Feeder
  • Ketchup
  • Bird Food

Method:

  • The way I am going to do my experiment is I am going to set up two separate bird feeders on different sides of the yard, and fill open with regular bird seed I haven't messed with, and fill the other bird feeder with bird seeds that has had ketchup added to it. I'm not sure if I will get ketchup powder to add to the bird seed yet, or just use actual ketchup and mix it into the seeds so it's not as wet so the birds will like it better.
Hypothesis:
  • I think the birds will like regular seeds better because ketchup is a weird thing to put on bird seeds. I think some of the birds might like the ones with the ketchup, but I'm not sure. If they do like the ones with ketchup better, I will be very surprised. I also think that they might try to eat ones underneath the ones with ketchup on them. I did some research, and ketchup isn't posionous to birds, so I'm not sure how they'll react. I wonder if since they can see color, they might mistake it for blood.

Independent and Dependent Variables:

  • Independent Variable: Adding ketchup to the bird seed
  • Dependent Variable: Seeing if the birds like regular bird seeds or ketchup-covered seeds better
ketchup.jpg

Procedure:

  • I am going to build a bird feeder out of two milk jugs, and fill it with bird seed. On the side of the bird feeder, I will put measurements so I can tell how much bird seed is eaten, and compare inches to cups (example: 12 inches is equivalent to 3 cups).
P1050237.JPG
The creation of the bird feeders.
  • I will then wait and then see daily how much the birds seed is eaten out of both the regular bird seed feeder, and the ketchup seed feeder, and compare results.

Day 1:

  • I've set up the two bird feeders, one with ketchup that has 3 inches/6 cups of bird seed in it (2 tablespoons of ketchup for each cup), and a bird feeder with regular bird seed in it with 2.5 inches/5 cups of bird seed.

  • The Ketchup bird feeder has not been touched, 0 cm has been eaten. The only thing that is diffrent with the ketchup on is that there is bugs (fly-looking bugs) in the feeder.
P1050241.JPGP1050248.JPG
  • The Regular bird feeder has had 1/2cm/1/8 cup eaten out of it. It looks the same.
P1050243.JPGP1050241.JPG

Day 2:

  • The ketchup bird feeder has the same results as yesturday, it hasn't been touched and there are flies/bugs all over it.
P1050249.JPG


  • The regular bird feeder has had 3cm eaten out of it today, which is equal to about 1/2 cup.
P1050250.JPG


Day 3:

  • Today, the ketchup bird feeder has had some bird seed eaten out of it! 1/2cm was eaten out of the ketchup bird feeder, which is equal to 1/8 cup.
P1050251.JPG
  • The regular bird feeder has 2cm eaten out of it, which is equal to 1/3 cup.
P1050253.JPG

Day 4:

  • The ketchup bird feeder wasn't eaten out of today.
P1050252.JPG

  • The regular bird feeder had 2cm eaten out of it again, which is equal to 1/3 cup.
P1050255.JPG

Day 5:

  • The ketchup bird feeder has had 1/2cm eaten out of it today. In total, 1.5cm have been eaten out of the ketchup bird feederm which is equal to 1/24 cup.
P1050257.JPG

  • The regular bird feeder has had about 2cm eaten out of it. In total, 9.5cm have been eaten out of the bird feeder, which is equal to 1 1/2 cup.
P1050258.JPG

Conclusion:

  • In total, the birds have eaten 9.5cm eaten out of the regular bird feeder in total, which is equivalent 1 1/2 cup.
  • In total, the birds have eaten 1.5cm out of the ketchup bird feeder, which is equivalent to 1/24 cup.
  • I noticed that the birds would come to the ketchup one, but then leave and not eat anything. In the ketchup one, there was only bugs, and a lot of them.
  • My hypothesis was right.
  • draven_bird_graph.jpg

Bibliography: